The dimly lit backroom of some anonymous offices behind King’s Cross station in London, England, is the unlikely location where Mark Ronson’s global smash hit Uptown Funk first sprang to life.

“Bruno (Mars) was on drums, Jeff (Baskher) was on keys, I was on bass, and we just kept playing it until we locked into a groove. It really wasn’t that different from how you would make a record in the ’60s or ’70s,” says Ronson, speaking from his compact and oddly sterile studio base.

Released in November last year, Uptown Funk spent 14 weeks at No 1 in the U.S. charts, seven at the top in the U.K., sold more than 10 million copies, and is the most streamed track of 2015 so far. After that first flash of inspiration in London, there were further sessions in Los Angeles, Memphis and New York – months spent adding and subtracting elements with the highly portable and infinitely adjustable facilities of contemporary digital recording technology. The way Ronson describes it, he was searching for something elusive from the mental archives of a vast record collection. “Having spent 20 years of my life DJ-ing, it is sometimes hard to shut off the spinning disco ball in my head,” he says, in a flat, transatlantic drawl.

One room of his London studio is crammed with old vinyl and, in a sense, this is the real location of the song. “I picture the platter on those old Wurlitzer or Seeburg jukeboxes, spinning discs around. It’s the way my brain works. All my records are in the other room and I’m thinking, how does the record we’re making fit into all that history and culture?” Discussing the song’s creation, Ronson mentions three people, yet the final release credits 11 songwriters, including the whole of veteran disco outfit The Gap Band, whose publishers asserted similarity to their 1979 hit Oops Upside Your Head.

“There’s nothing we intentionally or unintentionally took from that song, but that was the settlement we were told to follow,” says Ronson, carefully. “After the Blurred Lines thing, everybody was like, ‘You’d better be careful,’ and that’s kind of all I wanna say about it.”

Ronson is referring to last year’s lawsuit, when Marvin Gaye’s children won $7.4 million from Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke, after a jury decided their song Blurred Lines bore close similarity to Gaye’s 1977 hit Got to Give It Up. This was despite expert musical testimonial asserting that chordally, melodically and lyrically the songs were completely different.

“They didn’t break any rules of songwriting and plagiarism. You can’t trademark rhythm patterns, ’cause otherwise everybody will be paying Earl Palmer for inventing the rock ‘n’ roll drum beat,” is Ronson’s own opinion on the case. Announcing their intention of appealing, Williams and Thicke’s lawyers suggested the case could have a detrimental effect on musicians emulating sounds and styles of other eras, asserting that it “sets a horrible precedent for music and creativity going forward.” The Uptown Funk credits indicate that has already begun to happen.

“Basically, anybody who has a hit is opened up to being sued anyway. There are only so many rhythmic notations, only so many chord sequences, only so many notes. You’ll just have the musical equivalent of ambulancechasers analyzing songs for potential lawsuits,” Ronson says. “So that’s obviously a drag. I don’t think people want to see music halted by artists so worried about being sued that they censor themselves.”

He was born in London (son of music manager Laurence Ronson and jewellery designer Anne Dexter) and moved to New York at age eight (when his mother married Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones). He started DJing as a teenager in the early ’90s with eclectic sets mixing classic disco, funk, soul and RB with contemporary hip hop and (reflecting his British background) an anomalous affection for indie rock. But Ronson is also an accomplished musician, a guitar-playing bandleader who composes on piano.

He wrote the music for the classic Amy Winehouse song Back to Black overnight after meeting her, because “I was inspired by her and the music she wanted to make. I wanted to impress her.” Winehouse was so taken with Ronson’s tune that she came up with lyrics and melody on the spot.

“Your job is to get in where you fit in,” Ronson says. “Sometimes it means playing every instrument and building a track, sometimes it means putting mics up and coaxing a performance.” At 39, Ronson is also a brand in himself, with his perfect quiff hair and immaculate hipster style, fronting four albums featuring guest vocalists.

“Usually, I write music, chords and some of the melody. Whoever I’m working with will have a big part in how the song ends up. They’re not vapid pop stars.”

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